Utility of Video Laryngoscopy Practice in Difficult Intubation Scenario with Direct Laryngoscopy: a Randomized Study

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the success rate of direct laryngoscopy (DL) in difficult airway management of medical school students, who receive practical advanced airway management training with either video laryngoscopy (VL) or DL. The study was a prospective, randomized study. All the participants received theoretical training about endotracheal intubation. Groups 1 and 2 received practical training for DL and VL, respectively. After creating a difficult airway scenario, the first attempt success rate, the duration of the first intubation time, and the number of attempts were recorded in their DL intubation attempts on the first day. A week after, the participants were called back to repeat the procedure both DL and VL. The intubation success rate and duration at the first successful intubation were recorded. The research was conducted with 76 participants in total. The median value for the time of the first successful intubation in group 1 was 85 [55–187] s, whereas the same duration was 60 [36–109] s in group 2 ( p = 0.043). There was no significant difference in the number of attempts until the successful intubation and the successful intubation rate at the first attempt ( p = 0.263 and p = 0.412, respectively). There was no difference between both groups in the duration of the first intubation and successful intubation at the first attempt during the DL intubation trials ( p = 0.085 and p = 0.222, respectively) 1 week later. The use of video laryngoscopy during the intubation training can facilitate shortening the duration of the intubation procedure with direct laryngoscopy.